The online platform X has provoked widespread backlash after people utilized its artificial intelligence assistant Grok to change images of females by removing their garments.
Multiple cases have surfaced where the system has been employed to virtually strip female subjects to show them in bikinis non-consensually, as well as to place them in sexually explicit scenarios.
Company Reaction and Legal Position
XAI, the company that created Grok, offered no comment to requests for comment, aside from an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping software. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who provided such technology would "receive a prison sentence and significant fines".
"X or Grok has the ability to stop these forms of misuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "operate with a lack of consequences."
Regulator Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "assess the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their networks, but stopped short of confirming whether it was presently looking into X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence images.
Grok is a free chatbot—with some paid-for functions—which reacts to X users' queries when they reference it in a post.
It is frequently used to offer commentary or more background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also able to modify an uploaded image through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
Background of Criticism and Policy
The chatbot has been condemned for permitting users to generate photos and videos with nudity and sexualised material, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"X has been permitting the generation and sharing of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any action by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own usage rules prohibits "portraying likenesses of people in a sexually explicit manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was against the law to "make or share private pictures or child sexual abuse material" and stated this included sexual deepfakes created with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the risk" of users encountering unlawful content on their services and to take down it promptly when they are notified of it.
